Galileo International signs Best Western to highest level of GDS connectivity with Inside Shopper?

7 October 2004

Galileo International, Inc. today announced that Best Western International has become the 100th implementation of Inside Shopper, Galileo’s Next Generation Seamless capability. This new agreement with Best Western, the world’s largest hotel brand with more than 4,000 hotels in 80 countries, brings Inside Shopper implementation up to an industry-leading 30,000 properties worldwide.Inside Shopper is a Galileo® technology that interfaces directly with the hotel group’s central reservation system (CRS). Inside Shopper provides travel agencies with access to real-time information on rates and inventory while they search the initial hotel availability (HOA) screen.

Galileo-connected travel agencies, online travel providers and corporate clients can now all access the same up-to-the-minute information and ‘last available room’ inventory offered through a hotel’s internal reservation system, improving the level of service they are able to provide to their customers.

Participating hotels benefit from Galileo’s Inside Shopper as well by improving the effectiveness of their GDS distribution, generating more bookings and providing maximum control of where, when and how they make their inventory available. By increasing their “true” availability during an agent’s GDS search, the program allows hotels to return properties that meet the agent’s criteria, even if the rate requested is currently unavailable or if the property is “sold out.”

While Inside Shopper will alert the agent of these conditions, it will also provide the opportunity to market other rates, or in a closed out situation, market other properties through Alternate Availability functionality.

“The real-time connection with Inside Shopper gives us the advantage of providing our true availability directly from our CRS. This allows us to properly market all of the available Best Western hotel rooms in an agent’s desired search area,” said Ric Leutwyler, senior vice president of brand quality and member services, Best Western.

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“With Galileo displaying the most comprehensive listing of our available rooms, we have increased visibility during an agent’s GDS search, which will ultimately lead to more bookings and greater revenue generating potential.”

“Galileo’s Inside Shopper requires less time in the “shopping” mode, leaving more time dedicated to other revenue-generating services, ultimately improving productivity for travel agencies,” said Eileen Kennedy, vice president of marketing, Galileo Americas region. “The response to the program has been extremely favorable, with the properties realizing increased bookings since implementation. Participating chains now represent 60% of Galileo’s traffic worldwide.” ——-